The Wittenberg men’s basketball team hung with Wooster and often outplayed the top-seeded Scots for 35 minutes Friday in the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament semifinals.

In the final five minutes, Wooster proved why it has won four conference tournaments in a row. A 9-1 run by the Scots at the game’s crucial point carried them to a 78-66 victory at Timken Gymnasium.

The rivals had played 11 times in the NCAC championship game, but had never met in the semifinals until Friday. Wittenberg showed how far it had come since a 60-41 loss to Wooster in December, leading by as many as seven in the first half when it shot 63 percent. The Tigers just couldn’t keep up with Wooster at the end.

The 17th-ranked Scots (23-4) will play for the championship and the automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament at 7 tonight against No. 2 seed Ohio Wesleyan. The Battling Bishops (21-5) beat Kenyon 77-64 in the first semifinal Friday.

Wittenberg finished the season 17-10, and its two-year run of NCAA tournament appearances will end.

Zack Leahy led the Tigers with 16 points. Scott Masin added 14. Sam Collins scored 12.

Evan Pannell scored 21 points for the Scots, and Doug Thorpe had 17.

The game was tied at 61 with 5:12 left after a layup by Masin. Two free throws by Pannell with 4:57 left began the winning run for Wooster. A jumper by Jake Mays and a layup by Pannell stretched Wooster’s lead to 67-61, the largest it had been all night, with 3:15 to play.

Wittenberg missed six out of seven shots from the field during the key stretch. From the 5:00 mark to the 1:00 mark, the Tigers scored three points, on free throws.

Wittenberg committed only 11 turnovers, but Wooster was even better with four.

Women: Wittenberg (13-14) lost 66-43 to top-seeded and top-ranked DePauw in the NCAC semifinals in Greencastle, Ind. Katelyn Haralamos led the Tigers with 10 points. DePauw is 27-0.